The Silver Lining
by KimOfDrac
Summary: Buffy moves back to LA from Rome with a daughter, Evony, who is unknown to almost everyone. Soon, she will find out that Spike is alive and she will have to tell him about Evony. At the same time the Counsil are doing everything to get their hands on her.


_The man marched back and forth at the front of the room. The people around the U-shaped table were quiet, watching… Waiting. The man looked troubled in a way. Something was going on._

_After a few minutes he cleared his throat and began to speak._

"_Have you ever heard of a dhampir?"_

_He placed his hands on the table and leaned forward, looking at them all to search for a reaction._

"_A creature born half human and half vampire" a woman answered. She sat at the left side. Her glasses had thick red frames and her dark blonde hair was cut quite short. The man looked at her._

"_Indeed it is Loretta. In fact, it's a creature born from a human mother but it's father is a vampire, to be specific" the man said and straightened his tie. "More powerful and harder to find than any vampire"_

_A younger man at the table raised his hand, a pencil pointing out between his fingers._

"_S-sir… There hasn't bee any records of a dhampir in centuries" he stuttered. The man standing at the edge of the table chuckled._

"_Until now" his face turned serious. "And what makes it even more dangerous, interesting aswell, of course, is that the mother is a Slayer"_

_There were gasps and silent whispers._

"_A Slayer and a… A vampire…?"_

_The highly important man nodded and finally took a seat._

"_It might look like an infant, but we're dealing with a dangerous weapon. A weapon we could find very useful to study"_

"_You want us to kidnap the child?" someone interrupted, shock clear in her voice. The man smiled, revealing perfectly white teeth under the gray stubble surrounding his mouth._

"_I want you to steal the monster"_

…

Bright yellow letters blinked on the digital board hanging from the ceiling, saying the plane which had left Rome had just landed in Los Angeles.

"Oh, oh that blip thing means she's here soon" Willow squealed and pointed at the arrivals. Xander couldn't help but smile as he watched his friend get the sparkly sign that said 'Welcome Home Buffy' in bright green and purple.

"Buffy and mini Buffy" he said and Willow stared at him.

"Oh myGod, you forgot her name?" she hissed, sounding shocked. Xander leaned closer.

"It was V something, right?"

Willow swallowed.

"We're so not good friends right now"

With that, Xander realised Willow couldn't remember the baby's name either, and it made his hands sweat.

"But we know it's a girl, right?"

Willow nodded hystericly and put her biggest smile on and raised the sign up high. Buffy, along with Andrew and some other guy who had her bags came through the gate. She noticed them quickly and smiled as she waved at them with one hand.

Her two friends approached her and hugged her gently, so they wouldn't squish the little bundle she was holding.

"Oh, we've missed you so much" Willow said.

"Feels like years ago" Xander filled in and within seconds the baby got all the attention and was going to be the subject for days.

"It's great to be home" Buffy said with a content sigh. "And this is Evony"

A tiny face peeked out through the blanket and looked up at Willow with large, blue eyes. It made her melt completely.

"Aww, aren't you a cutie"

Xander silently repeated the baby's name in his head, so he wouldn't forget it again. He wasn't as excited about the little girl, he knew what she was but had no idea what it meant and it worried him. It was better not to get attatched…

Of course, that wasn't easy when Willow got to hold her and was squeaking over the "cuteness".

"Isn't she adorable, Xander?"

That was just unfare. He wanted minimal contact with the kid.

"Yes, very. I'm so happy for you Buff"

He hoped Buffy didn't take any notice in his lack of interest.

"Thank you" Buffy said, smiling widely. It was good to be with her friends again and take a break from her duties as a Slayer and take on the ones as a full-time mother instead. With Dawn camping with her friends for the summer break, she could focus all on herself, Evony and her own friends.

"Should we get going?" Andrew asked. He seemed to be thinking of something… Hiding something, biting his lip and rolling his hands, but maybe he was just nervous.

"Yes please, I'm beat" Buffy sighed and put her arm around Xander's waist, letting Willow carry Evony to the car.

…

The atmosphere at Wolfram & Hart was, like always, stressful. Angel had been on the phone with clients he couldn't even spell the names of and they all wanted them to do the most stupid, impossible things, like suing people for suing them for stealing company money, which they were actually proud of and claimed it was their right, since they were licenced thieves. He couldn't remember half of it.

"Rough day, huh?" Spike asked as he stepped into the room. Angel sighed.

"And I didn't think my day could get worse…."

Spike snorted.

"Still hating me more than the wackos around here, I'm honored"

Angel counted to ten quietly and Spike moved to sit in the chair on the other side of Angel's desk. "So… Any missions?"

"Not for you, Spike" Angel mumbled and tried to ignore him by looking through some papers.

They were interrupted by Harmony, who walked through the door with a sigh.

"Boss"

"Yes, Harmony" Angel replied, still sounding a bit annoyed.

"That Andrew person is here… again"

Angel sighed and looked up at her.

"What does he want?"

Harmony's eyes shifted to look at Spike.

"He wants to talk to Spike"

Spike raised his eyebrows.  
"Me? What would the bloke want to talk to me for?" he asked. Harmony shrugged.

"It sounded urgent"

Andrew looked extremely nervous and was drumming against the reception counter.

"What's so urgent you need me for?" Spike asked, sounding surprised and at the same time irritated. Andrew looked up at him.

"Oh I'm so glad you came to see me" Andrew said hastily and Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Just spit it out"

Andrew's eyes flickered between looking at Spike, and then Angel and then back at Spike.

"It's Buffy, she-"

"Is she alright?" Angel interrupted and Spike almost growled at him. Andrew continued.

"Yes, she's alright. She's in town actually and-"

"She's here? As in here in LA?" Spike asked. Andrew nodded.

"Yes she's moving back… She, she bought a house, but her stuff won't get here until tomorrow so she's staying at Willow's place and-"

With that Spike moved towards the elevator.

"Spike where are you going?" Angel called after him, even if he knew where he was heading.

"The sun is up, I'll have to use the Viper"

"No, Spike you can't use the…"

The bell rang and Spike entered the elevator, not listening.

"Uhm, Spike I have to… There's something else-" Andrew yelled. The elevator doors closed and Spike was gone. "… You have a kid"


End file.
